a higher standard

One of my favorite things about being fortunate enough to travel a lot up to this point in my life is all the unique places I have gotten to stay. I am not just talking about the amazing locations, but specifically the hotels. I have been on trips tp fancy resorts and I have also been on trips where we stayed in rooms that didn't have screens on windows or air conditioning. 

What I found is that the type of place I stayed in directly correlated to the standard that I was holding myself to. At the nice resorts I kept everything clean and organized and made sure everything was left even better than when I got there. At the not as nice places, I often didn't care as much. I didn't keep my bags as organized and if I made a mess I didn't worry about it as much. 

As believers, we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard. A standard that is worthy of the Good News about Christ! 

"Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing together for the faith, which is the Good News." (Philippians 1:27)

Conducting yourselves in a manner that is worthy of the Good News is like staying in the nice places. (there is nothing wrong with places that aren't fancy, just the example I am giving)  As believers we are the love God and love others above ALL else! We are also called to serve God and others. We are to live by the fruits of the Spirit. There is a manner we should be holding ourselves to. I know Satan has his agenda too. He is trying to deceive us and tempt us into thinking that it's okay to not live as Christ calls us, it's okay to every once in a while step out of line...and those are just his games. 

We are dirty rotten sinners, we are going to sin, but above all else we must conduct ourselves in a manner that is worthy of the Good News. 

your superpower

When I was younger (I say that as if I am old) I loved any and every movie on the Disney channel. One of my favorite movies that I remember watching was Sky High. I won't give the full movie review, but essentially this was a high school where every kid had a super power. I thought the kids were so cool because of everything that they could do. 

Realistically, we don't have superpowers like those kids, we can't become invisible, have super speed, or fly, although I wish we could! But we do have one superpower. I have it. You have it. We all have it.

We have the superpower of choice. 

We get to make our own decisions! 

We get to choose whether or not we are going to be joyful today, or have a bad attitude. 

We get to choose whether or not to serve and love on people today, or focus on ourselves.

We get to choose what we believe in, we get to choose what we watch on TV, we get to choose what music we listen to, we get to choose whether or not you get up to go to church on Sunday, we get to choose!!

We have a superpower greater than anything we could ever imagine.

Take advantage of it today! Choose to serve, love, and glorify God! 

Requesting with joy

Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy. (Philippians 1:4)

Joy: a feeling of great pleasure and happiness

When Paul made requests to God through prayer he always did it with joy. He didn’t make requests because he was desperate, he didn’t make requests when he was upset, he always did with joy! I find that super encouraging. 

I also feel convicted because I feel like a lot of the times when I pray about something, I don’t do it with joy. No wonder I am missing out on so much fulfillment when I pray. It makes sense. I believe that joyfulness requires a certain amount of positive energy. Energy is contagious right? It absolutely is! Imagine how encouraging it might be to other believers and nonbelievers to always bring our requests before God with joy. 

Think about the last person you told you would pray for them or the situation they were facing. You hear it and see it everywhere. You most likely said in a sympathetic voice: I will be praying for you. I most likely would guarantee that’s just how it always is! I do it all the time without even being aware. 

Let’s make requests to God with joy! Let’s be joyful and have it be contagious to others. Joy creates a get to mentality rather than a have to mentality. 

armor of God

From the moment we open our eyes and wake up every morning until the moment we close them and try to go to sleep, we are at battle. We have a challenge every day to stand firm against all the strategies of the devil. 

Now this battle isn't against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in the dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 

To me, this sounds like and feels like a battle that I want to be fully prepared for with a full set of armor. A battle like this I would never want to not be prepared for or think I was going to be prepared for it if I just put on some of the armor. 

We are to put on EVERY piece of the armor. We need a belt, shoes, a shield, a helmet, and a sword. 

The awesome part about the armor of God is that all these pieces of armor have significant meaning.

Belt: of truth

Shoes: of peace, so that we are fully prepared

Shield: of faith, to stop the fiery arrows of the devil

Helmet: of salvation

Sword: of the Spirit, which is the word of God

Every morning, we have to put on EVERY piece of armor. It's not going to do any good if you put on everything and forget your sword...or if you forget your shield, etc. We must put on every piece. The good news? The battle has been won, we just have to continue to stand firm. 

work with enthusiasm

Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. (Ecclesiastes 6:7)

Enthusiasm: intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval.

How many of you work with enthusiasm? To me I believe that when you view all you do as an opportunity, you are going to have enthusiasm, because who doesn't get excited when there is an opportunity in front of you?

Every commute to work, every 8am meeting, every call, email, letter, sweat, hard labor, easy labor, treating co-workers with love is an OPPORTUNITY. All of it. We get to do these things daily! We get to have jobs where we can provide for ourselves and for our families. We are so blessed to wake up today and embrace the opportunity ahead with enthusiasm. 

One of the best ways to give God glory and to be thankful is to have enthusiasm in all that we do. Whether you are the CEO of a company, a general manager, assistant general manager, janitor, delivery driver, or secretary, you can all be enthusiastic for the work you do. You don't have to make tons of money to work with excitement for God. 

Just try being enthusiastic in all you do today! Get excited about the day ahead. The enemy will try to throw you off and kill that energy, so you are going to have to be ready for battle. Let's conquer today! 

Making the most

Make the most out of every opportunity in these evil days. (Ephesians 5:15)

My wife, (Rachel) is the perfect example of this. If you know her really well, or have ever had any interaction with her before she most likely made you feel loved and cared for because she made the most out of that opportunity. 

Every time we host someone together, whether it's in our apartment or a family get together back home in Ligonier, she goes all out. She makes sure everything is picture perfect. She puts some pizzazz in ALL that she does! 

A couple weeks ago we hosted my family in our apartment for the afternoon, and you should've seen the fruit plate and veggie tray she put together. It was unbelievable. I think we had every fruit from the grocery store, and the best looking veggies. If you would've taken a couple pictures it could've ended up in a magazine!  It was something I never even would've thought about! I think I was just planning on getting some chips and cheese and crackers. 

Making the most of every opportunity is not my strongest attribute, so I am thankful that Rach does this better than anyone that I know. 

I could go on and on about Rach but just wanted to make today's post brief. Make the most of every opportunity you have today. Make the most of every interaction you have with your family, co-workers, and even random people you might see out and about. If you're trying to get a little extra work done before the beautiful weekend, do it! If you want to call or text and old friend you haven't spoken with in a couple months, do it! 

I know for me whenever I make the most of every opportunity I feel so much better about myself and know that I am living in such a way that God would be pleased with. 

I honestly believe that when we are on earth making the most of every opportunity, God is in heaven smiling. 

Imitators of God

It's natural for children to imitate their parents Children often have their paren't nature, their behavior and their actions. You can be around a child and you can see their parents in the way they walk, the way they talk and the things they do.

While that is true in our earthy families, it is equally true in our heavenly families. Like beloved children, who are near the parent, learning, observing and growing, we are brought near to our Heavenly Father so that we might learn His ways and become more like Him.

"Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God." (Ephesians 5:1-2)

You can't imitate a person if you don't know anything about them, so we must learn all we can about the Lord from His word. We must put into practice everything we know about Him. We are to do the things we see Him doing, and we are to avoid the things He avoids. We are to be like God in every respect.

In reality though, God is commanding us to do something that is impossible within ourselves. Left up to us, we could never be imitators of God. We simply cannot imitate God through our own power.

While we can't be holy on our own, as redeemed children of God, we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to live like Him, act like Him, walk like Him, and talk like HIm. 

Being an "imitator" of God means we must imitate His "love." After all, the Bible tells us God is love. His very nature is defined by His live. Everything He does, He does it out of love. As Children of God, we are to imitate and walk in love.

I hope as you step out into the real world today that you are ready to imitate God through the power of the Holy Spirt! A simple prayer you can pray throughout the day is: Make me more like you today in all my thoughts, decisions and actions. 

your words matter

"Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them." (Ephesians 4:29)

Your words matter.

Your words matter.

Your words matter.

What we say and how we say it is everything. I am not sure why our brains are this way, but there are days where things are going great. It's sunny, warm, you just closed a big deal, life is good!! But then someone says something that throws you off. That person who said something might not have even said anything about you but their negativity and pessimism throws off the entire course of your day.

Ever been there? I have those people in life. I know they might not be this way on purpose, but I know that every time I have a conversation with them, something bad and negative is going to get brought up and it affects me. 

Let everything you say be good and helpful. We need to hear that more than ever right now!! I was challenged by a mentor of mine to try and not say anything negative for 24 hours. I remember getting the text and thinking it didn't seem like it was that hard. Then immediately as my day got busier, it was harder for me to not say anything negative. I was amazed at how many times I had to bite my tongue before lunch time! 

I wish I could tell you, I made it the full 24 hours, and felt amazing, but I didn't. I might have made it 5. 

I challenge you and myself. For the next 24 hours lets commit to not saying anything negative. It's going to be hard, but you'll be amazed at how much awareness you will have when you do this. 

Your words matter, choose them and use them wisely. 

the entire universe

Christ filled the entire universe with himself.

"When he ascended to the heights,

he led a crowd of captives

and gave gifts to his people." 

"Notice that it says "he ascended." This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself/." (Ephesians 4:7-10)

Where is the significance in this? Well, in a world like we live in today, you don't really get the whole identity of everyone you come in contact with. You might know people very high level on the surface, you follow people on social media where you only see all the good that's going on in their life, etc. It's easier more than ever to make your life look like it's perfect  and that there are no flaws. 

We are also living in a time where it seems like what's temporary is valued more than what's eternal. Treasures on earth or more important than treasures in heaven. Yet again, one side is being portrayed as better than the other.

Here is the significance of Christ ascending and descending...it causes him to fill the entire universe. Christ is everywhere. Both here with us now, and also in the heavens. 

It is Christ alone…who connects heaven and earth: he is the only Mediator who reaches from heaven down to earth: he is the medium through which the fullness of all celestial blessings flows down to us, and through which we, in turn, ascend to God.

spiritual growth

In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul has a very specific prayer when it comes to spiritual growth..I believe there are parts of that prayer we can take away and apply today. 

The reason I want to share it with you and the reason I believe it's encouraging is because I struggle with this all the time. I am not great at prayer, and when it comes to the specifics I often don't really know what to say when it comes to spiritual growth. Well, other than the usual "God please help me continue to grow closer to you every day."

I pray that  from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through the his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep your strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, high high, and how deep is love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fulness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we could ever ask or think. Glory to him and the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:16-21)

Imagine a prayer including words like: unlimited resources, empowering, trust, roots, growing, understanding, love, glory, accomplishing infinitely more, etc.

I believe we can go deeper, along with being more specific and direct. I know for me, I put God into a box in my prayers because I am not specific enough. One of the best ways to set your sights on accomplishing a goal is to be clear and specific. When I ran my financial practice, we would have monthly vision meetings where we would share what we wanted, and what our goals were. Here again I struggled, I would talk about how I wanted a truck, and how I wanted to take my wife on these amazing vacations, but I never would give a specific timeline, make on the truck, or what I really needed to do in order to make that happen. 

Whether it's spiritual growth or growing as a person, there is power in being specific. I encourage you to commit to that as you start your week, be specific about everything you do and everything you want. It will be worth it, and it will start to bring you some clarity.

we are God's masterpiece

You are a masterpiece.

We aren't just small fish in a big pond, although it might seem like it. 

We are a masterpiece because God is so rich in mercy, and he loves us so much. Even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.

For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10)

You are a masterpiece because God loves you. You are not a masterpiece because of the nice things you have, the money you make, the awesome car you have, how much you travel, etc. We are a masterpiece because of God's love for us. 

Whenever I see or hear the word masterpiece, I think of the most beautiful artwork in the entire world. That's us!! 

Whether you are coming off an amazing week or a week you wish you could do all over again, you are still a masterpiece because of God's mercy and love for you.  

thriving over surviving: full-plate mentality

The past few weeks I have been reading a book written by David Nurse called Pivot & Go. If you are looking for an easy read and a book with all sorts of lifestyle tips and tricks, this is the book for you! I get incredibly excited each day to pick up this book and read it. 

Essentially, Pivot & Go is a 29-Day Blueprint to Redefine and Achieve YOUR Success. 

Today I want to share a brief section from the book that I was deeply encouraged by. 

-

It's all about pivoting the mindset from surviving to thriving. Waking up each morning and understanding the day ahead is an opportunity to thrive. Going to work and positively encouraging someone, empowering a co-worker to reach new limits they never thought they could hit. Swallowing the car inspection cost because you know your bank account isn't what gives you joy and stability-it's the safety of the family at home, the kids waiting for you to scoop them up for hugs the moment you walk in the door. It's the ability to live each day with the full-plate mentality: knowing that God is going to fill your plate up with only the things you will get done in that one day, giving you the comfort and contentment of knowing you did all you could for the day with the plate you were given and that your plate will be filled again tomorrow. It's a full-plate mentality that allows us to shut off the surfing worries and turn on the thriving power. It's not an endless buffet mentality, where we suffocate ourselves. 

Matthew 6:26-27: "Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in the barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

We are all going to have struggles throughout the day. It's just how life is. However, the confidence we gain by going through these challenging times, knowing we will make it through no matter what gets thrown our way makes everything in life better. We come out the other side stronger, with an even deeper knowledge of our true selves. 

-

I hope this encourages you like it encouraged me today! Also make sure you check out the book. It's one of my favorites. 

boasting of the cross

"As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world's interest in me has also died." (Galatians 6:14)

Paul got to the point in his life where he wasn't boasting about anything other than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I strive to get to that point! I would like to think that I am not a boastful person, and I hope that most people who know me would say the same thing. I know there are sometimes where I selfishly boast a little bit, but I never feel good about myself when I do it. 

I do wish I boasted about the cross more often, because I don't. Paul boasts about the cross of our Lord Jesus because of the cross, his interests in the world have been crucified! That's what we all need to happen because we are sucked in. The interests of the world have us, and distract us like no other. 

We can crucify those interests when we boast about the cross. Jesus died on that cross for ALL our sins. Not just some, but ALL.

As you attack today, don't forget about the power of the cross. Boast about it too! 

you will get what you plant

I really don't know a lick about farming or planting, but I do know that whatever seeds you plant and put in the ground are the ones you harvest. If a farmer is planning to harvest corn, the farmer will plant corn seed. Same goes for wheat and beans, if a farmer wants to harvest wheat and beans, the farmer will plant wheat and bean seed.

What do you want to plant? I believe that's a question we should start asking ourselves daily. When we wake up in the morning, when we have interactions throughout our days, when we experience wins, and even when we experience losses. 

What I mean by asking that question is, do you want to harvest death and decay or everlasting life? 

Do you to live by the Spirit or do you to live and satisfy your sinful nature? 

Don't be misled-you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. (Galatians 6:7-9)

Guys, let's not get tired of doing good! At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Sometimes it's hard to be patient. I think about the times growing up where my parents would plant raspberry bushes, and you always had to eat them at just the right time. I remember looking at the bushes everyday and as soon as the berries started to turn red I wanted to eat them, and each time I tired, they were so sour and tart! When I finally learned to be patient and wait, there was nothing better than a perfect raspberry straight from the plant. 

Life is a lot like that sometimes, we have to always be patient and never get tired of doing good and trusting the process in life. I believe in life that nothing happens to us, everything happens for us.

As you move onto your busy day, I challenge you to really think about some of the questions I asked in this post. What are you planting? What do you want to plant? Do you want to harvest death and decay or everlasting life? 

your own work

Comparison is the thief of joy, I am sure almost everyone had heard that before, but what do we all do? Go right back to comparing ourselves. 

One of my favorite parts about growing up were the summers in-between each college basketball season. I looked forward to those like crazy because everyday was the same. I would get in the gym, work all day, hit the track, weight room, and the gym, go to bed at 8, and then do it all over again. I loved it. 

I've been very fortunate where I have always been disciplined enough to really push myself to my breaking point when I would workout alone. Most people aren't that way. Every night when I put my head on my pillow to go to sleep, I knew that I had given everything I had that day. I also knew that I had gotten better. 

About every other day though, something would throw me off a little bit and take away my joy, and that was comparison. Every once in awhile when I would get caught up doing something on my phone, I would come across a snap chat video, or an Instagram video of someone else who was working out. I would get so fixated on what they were doing, I would loose focus on what I was doing. What wrecked me was that I understood you don't get the full scope of everything on social media. So were these guys doing this everyday? Were they only in the gym once? How long were there workouts? Were they also hitting the track and weight room? What am I missing out on?

When I wasn't focused on my own work, I was less effective and not as joyful, because so much of my energy was going elsewhere. 

"Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else." (Galatians 6:4)

This verse applies to so many aspects of your life, especially your career. My one thing for you today, is to pay attention to your work. When you do that, you will get the satisfaction of a job well done. Don't waste your time comparing your hard work to someone else. We don't need to compare ourselves to anyone. 

get over yourself

Each and every person is important, special, valuable, loved, and created in the image of God. But you are not that important. I don't say that harshly, I say it out of truth. Sometimes you just have to be brutally honest. When it come to the gospel you can't just always talk about all the good things...the things that make people feel good about themselves. 

If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important. (Galatians 6:3)

We need to help, serve, and love others! We love ourselves so much that we forget to help others. The best example I can think of is last week when I was in the office. A brand new colleague just started and their office space is right next to mine. Now my new colleague had lots of questions, and was really eager to learn from me so I spent a couple minutes helping out, but quickly left because I wanted to workout before my afternoon meetings started.

I spent so little time actually helping that I didn't feel good about myself. If I would've sat down and spent 45 minutes to an hour helping, then I could've potentially had a huge impact on her jump starting her career and being able to provide for herself and her family. 

I valued my 25 minute HIT workout over serving and helping out a new colleague. I thought that I was way more important than what I was.

Let's get over ourselves and help others today. I will commit to it if you will. I can promise you this, it's not going to be easy because we are sinners. But the good news is that we are loved. 

how can you actually tell?

I've written a lot this week about our sinful desires vs. what the Spirit wants, but what is the difference? I know it's pretty easy to distinguish but for me, I always better understand things when I see them written out.

sinful desires: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealously, outburst of anger, self ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, and wild parties. 

Spirit desires: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Take a second and really look at those lists. I know it's pretty clear and obvious which list we should want to live by, but it's hard. No matter how hard I try, there always seems to be sinful desires that try to interrupt my day. Unfortunately we were born sinners. 

So what should we do when we experience sinful desires? 

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful natures to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another. (Galatians 5:24)

I hope that after this morning, and reading into this you will more easily be able to identify when you are living in one these types of ways. When you realize you are indulging in your sinful desires, nail those things to the cross and repent. Let's continue to follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. 

a constant battle

You're out to lunch with your coworker, it's Friday afternoon and everyone is excited and in a good mood because it's almost the weekend. You've all worked extra hard this week and it feels extra good. One of your coworkers, isn't like the rest. He or she decided not to go eat lunch and keep working. 

All is good at lunch, nobody really notices it until someone brings it up. As soon as the name is brought up it's like the flood gates open and everyone starts talking about the coworker who decided not to hang out. I mean everyone is chiming in, there are people saying bad things, and others bringing up some good things. You notice that when some of your coworkers start saying bad things or making fun of the person, it seems like everyone is laughing more than when the good things are said. 

You're sitting there and the only person left to chime in is you..What are you going to say? Are you going to make fun of the coworker just to fit in? Are you going to say nice things because you feel like that's the right thing to do? Or are you going to tell the group you shouldn't be talking about your coworker who isn't there?

Life is a battle!!

We constantly wrestle with these battles daily. 

"The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants, And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions." (Galatians 5:17)

Every day we are faced with a battle between our sinful nature and what the Spirit wants. You faced it yesterday, you will face it today, and most likely tomorrow you will as well. It's never ending. It's a constant battle. Just like the moment where it's your turn to chip in at lunch with your coworkers.

What are you going to do? I believe the most important first step is your awareness. You might just be the life of the party and you can't flip a switch all of a sudden. Or it might just be your second nature to fit in and be a part of the group! When you're in those moments, where you can tell you're a couple words away from fitting in or you have a knot in your stomach telling you to keep your mouth shut, that's the first victory!

Recognize the constant battle we all face, and from there we conquer it. 

flying a kite in an ally

I am very exited. These next few days I will be writing about the Holy Spirit vs. sinful nature. I would love to combine it all in one post but I believe breaking them up will allow the Holy Spirit to work and hopefully have these posts be more impactful. 

"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves." (Galatians 5:16)

Living by our sinful nature is like trying to fly a kite in an ally.

Have you every flown a kite before? I don't think I have in years...like 10 years. I always loved it though! There was always something so much fun about finding a super cool kite, going outside on a windy day, and seeing how high you could get your kite to go. 

One of the difficult challenges was always figuring out which way the wind was blowing. I remember picking up grass, throwing it in the air numerous times because I wanted my kite to fly. Once I figured out which way the wind was blowing, I let the wind take its course.

Now imagine flying a kite in an ally. Where there is no wind, it's dark, cold, dirty and your kite barely gets off the ground. 

The Holy Spirit is always at work. Somewhere on the earth it's windy every day. Even if it's just a little gust. If we truly want to live by the Spirit we must be willing to let the Holy Spirit guide our lives. We have to have open ears, hearts, and minds. Just like the excitement we get when we are trying to figure out which way the wind is blowing.  

the ultra green light

We have been called to live in freedom. Have you ever realized that? The freedom that we have in Christ has no limits. 

The freedom that we have in Christ is a lot like the freedom a head coach will give the best player on the team. Let's use basketball for example, I was fortunate enough to play on really good winning teams my entire life. In high school...I say this humbly, I was the best player on the team. In college it was a completely different story. 

For example, the best player I played with while I played in college way Clay. Everything we did flowed through him. He was our best player and our best leader. The coaches gave him more freedom than the rest of the guys and we were all okay with that. Clay had the ultra green light. 

Steph Curry also has the ultra green light. More than any other basketball player to ever plan. 

Luckily for us, that worked to our advantage and that year we were conference champions in both the regular season and the tournament. 

We have the ultra green light as believers in Christ. 

"For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Be aware of destroying one another." (Galatians 5:13-15)

We are to use our freedom to serve one another in love. Serving others is everything. Something I have started doing when I walk into a room, or a I wake up in the morning is look at my hands and say the word: serve. That helps me get in the mindset that I am here to serve others while not expecting anything in return! That's the key when it comes to serving. We should always serve, serve, serve, and serve some more without expecting anything in return. 

Love your neighbor as yourself. We have the ultra green light to serve and love today. We have that freedom daily so let's do something about it. Only Christ can give us all the ultra green light when we believe in our hearts that he sent his Son to die on the cross for all of our sins. 

Serve and love today.

Monday morning thought:

We should always read scripture and apply it to our lives, not apply our lives to scripture. 

The Word of God is everything. Way too often there are Christians who look at their lives and what they are facing and then compare that to what the Word says about it. It should be flip flopped..We need to despot the scripture into our hearts, minds, and souls and with that we can apply the scripture to our lives and what we face. 

When you are encouraging someone today, make sure you point them to scripture above all else. That's where we will find the truth to set us free. 

I hope this short post got you thinking this morning as we attack a new day.